Help Our Drive & Front Garden - Where To Start! (Photos!)

We have been working internally on our house for about a year now and I feel I need to turn some attention to the front garden & drive area.

The problem is I have no idea where to start! Is there any software I can download to plan things out?

There isn't a lot of budget left (£2/3K) to do much just now so open to any suggestions as to whether the land should be levelled a bit or terraced over 2 levels, I have no experience of ground works so unaware of the costs!.

Hoping to have space for at least 2 / 3 cars to park and get in and out past each other.

So far the plan is to replace the metal gate with a wooden one (split 2/3rds for foot and car) and the wall to the left of the gate is getting filled in (mainly for safety for our little girl)! We have had the new access steps seen built to get up to the house.

I would like to have some grass and was planning a raised bed against the front wall to match the dyke but lower.

At the back we have a septic tank so was planning a wall along there with a small foot gate for access.

This will be a slow burn over a few years but need to establish the layout and base ground works.

In the 6th photo the trench was for beech hedge which we didn't put in yet as I was worried ground works would damage it!

Looking at the setting, I personally would not want to sit on that terrace looking at my car. So I would extend the driveway (re surfaced as a nice gravel driveway) as far as it can go, and make two adjacent parking spaces, and a turning bay so you can turn and exit forwards. That would put the cars out of the way leaving a nice clear view from the terrace.

Then it's down to whether you want a sloping lawn or a stepped terraced lawn.

Your budget it tiny so I assume you are going to do all the work yourself?

The garden at the back is the same size again and it currently tends to be where we spend time due to the exposure of the front garden (from being seen by others rather than weather).

The original boundary was at the terrace / wall, low fence you see and we were lucky enough to aquire this piece of former farm land. It is appoved now for nearly 6 months for change of use so I feel its time for a tidy up!

The terrace isn't really somewhere we sit or plan to but that is a valid point worth taking into consideration re cars.

Alas yes we will be doing most of the work as usual, we are getting the roof done in a few weeks so its the priority with upstairs.

I was hoping to at least get the land levelled plus some additional top soil and aggregate base for the drive to get a general outline going this year.